Why Cloud Managed Networking is a Game Changer in IT

If the challenges involved in managing your employees’ bandwidth, security, and mobility needs are keeping you awake at night, then we have got some bad news – the rapid pace at which technology changes means those challenges won’t go away anytime soon.

Implementing a modern IT infrastructure that’s able to support always-connected mobile devices, data-hogging applications, and “bring your own device” (BYOD) practices is no longer a “nice-to-have” – it’s a necessity.

If you are looking to simplify your network switches and reduce time and money spent on management and maintenance, there is some good news for you. Enter cloud managed networking which has been rapidly growing in popularity with businesses of late. With a sizeable number of businesses moving to cloud based services, it’s no surprise that cloud-managed networking, often provided ‘as-a-service’, is exploding into the market scene.

Cloud-managed networking is a way of managing and controlling a business network remotely through resources in the cloud, rather than from onsite network controllers or management software. It uses a SaaS model to make it easy to control and analyse on-premise network devices, such as wireless access points and switches.

Cloud-managed networking, which refers to the ability to manage network hardware and software using the SaaS model, is also increasing in popularity. In fact, Gartner research states that the adoption of cloud-managed networking is expected to double by the end of 2023.

This method allows you to manage all network users and devices in a single place, meaning that employees can work flexibly without geographical concerns, making cloud-managed networking especially valuable for businesses where employees connect from multiple locations.

Cloud networking-as-a-service’ includes switches, wireless access points and security gateways accompanied by a hardware license, as opposed to other cloud services that a business usually licenses. The technology gives you total visibility over deployment, management, monitoring and diagnosis of issues on a network.

Once a device is connected to the network, it can easily load the running configuration from the cloud. This also means that businesses can scale up, from a few key devices to a large deployment under a single platform.

Locally managed switches require an administrator to be either directly connected to the corporate network or have remote access capabilities to access the switch management interface. Cloud-managed switches, on the other hand, are controlled in public cloud environments and only require an administrator to have internet access. Thus, for geographically distributed networks, a cloud-managed switch architecture can simplify the remote management process.

An immediate benefit is the cost and time savings achieved by eliminating the need for hardware and the resources needed to host traditional on-premises services. And because there’s virtually no ramp-up time, cloud-based solutions provide significant time-to-market and time-to-value that help businesses achieve a competitive advantage.

Manage and troubleshoot from anywhere

Traditionally, managing networks or troubleshooting a network issue requires someone to be physically present. When dealing with multi-site deployments or other situations in which it isn’t always possible for IT to be on-site, this form of management and troubleshooting cannot scale and quickly proves untenable.

With cloud-managed IT, managing and troubleshooting issues from anywhere is finally a reality. An IT administrator can quickly get alerted about a network issue, diagnose the problem, and devise a solution from any computer with internet access. For example, with cloud-managed IT, an IT admin can quickly run a cable test on a cable running between a switch and an access point to determine whether the cable or the AP is at fault. Cloud-managed IT doesn’t just help save time and resources; it unlocks entirely new capabilities that simply aren’t possible with legacy IT solutions.

Easy to set up, configure and manage

For most IT admins, the thought of installing and maintaining network infrastructure doesn’t exactly inspire joy – even less so when it comes to multi-site deployments. The hassles involved are frustrating, to say the least.

Managing IT infrastructure through the cloud dramatically simplifies ordinarily challenging tasks and cuts down on time and cost. With zero-touch provisioning, devices such as access points, security appliances, and VoIP phones can be pre-configured before they even arrive on-site. Configurations download automatically once the device is connected to the network for a true plug-and-play experience. Furthermore, “virtual stacking” allows IT admins to bulk-configure ports on internet-connected switches, whether these switches are physically located in Dubai or Dublin. Managing IT infrastructure through the cloud thus requires less investment in on-site setup, significantly reducing staff costs.

Superior Security

In order to maintain a secure stack that ensures high levels of productivity and uptime, IT needs constant visibility into network traffic, security threats, and device activity. Keeping security definitions and device firmware up-to-date is also crucial. Cloud-managed IT makes it simple for IT admins to get a real-time understanding of what’s going on network-wide and to ensure that security threats are kept at bay.

With a fully cloud-managed infrastructure, IT admins can look at application usage on a per-client basis and enforce security policies at the firewall or access point level, all from one dashboard. Additionally, when threats arise, admins can rest assured knowing that the latest security updates have already been pushed to firewall devices, silently and automatically, over the Internet. This kind of visibility and automation significantly reduces the burden on IT while ensuring complete network security.

Interconnected management unlocks new possibilities

Traditional IT management is a piecemeal affair. Because there are different vendors for different parts of the stack – wireless, switching, security, mobile device management, and more -configuring more than one category of device at a time to accomplish a certain network-wide goal is usually not possible. Even worse, IT admins have to learn how to navigate many different interfaces and deal with multiple support lines if they run into any issues.

The beauty of cloud-managed IT is that every part of the stack can be controlled from a single management interface. This enables different elements of your IT infrastructure to work together in new ways. For instance, with every device communicating with one another and with the cloud, IT admins can view a complete network topology, updated live, and instantly troubleshoot issues with any device. As the demand on the network grows and new IT infrastructure is added, every new piece of gear can be managed from the same interface. This easy scalability makes cloud-managed IT ideal for growing organizations with ever-increasing numbers of users, devices, and sites.

Lower TCO (total cost of ownership)

Of course, one of the most important considerations when it comes to choosing which IT stack to implement is overall cost. And while the cost of the initial hardware is certainly important, too many companies focus only on the hardware cost and ignore ongoing support and maintenance costs. The beauty of cloud-managed IT is that the flexibility and ease-of-use inherent in the cloud management model means much lower costs over time, resulting in a lower TCO over the span of a few years.

As mentioned earlier, a cloud-managed stack provides your IT team with extensive visibility into network performance, not to mention actionable alerts whenever there’s a hiccup. You will be able to proactively diagnose issues and manage problems before they impact your business; as the saying goes, “a stitch in time saves nine.” Additionally, with the cloud-managed model, multi-site management is simple and straightforward. All of this means that the TCO of a cloud-managed IT stack is much lower than that of traditional IT infrastructure – often by thousands of dollars.

Adoption of advanced features

Many advanced networking technologies such as AI/ML based solutions, require access to scalable compute and storage to deliver value. However, these requirements are typically cost-prohibitive for smaller organizations.

Cloud-managed networking levels the playing field by providing the resources required to collect and analyze data, identify patterns and trends, and ultimately present insights that help improve network operations.

Vendor updates and bug fixes

New features and updates are developed and delivered automatically and more frequently. All enhancements and updates are the responsibility of the vendor, which means they are tested for compatibility and deployed without downtime. This allows the IT teams to focus on developing new services much faster that improve business processes.

Cloud-managed switches include numerous features for streamlining the work of the network engineer, from deployment to security to troubleshooting. Let’s have a quick overview on these features:

1. Multi-gigabit Ethernet: Obtain the higher performance demanded by the latest access points over existing cabling.
2. Flexible Stacking: Simultaneously configure thousands of ports across standalone and physically stacked switches, regardless of location.
3. Layer 7 Visibility: Cloud-managed switches make it easy to understand how valuable network resources are being used. Each network flow is categorized and access control policies are enforced, so your network is doing what it should.
4. Layer 3 Scalability: Build large, resilient networks using dynamic routing protocols and warm spare technology.
5. Voice & Video QoS: Cloud-managed switches give your latency sensitive applications the priority and bandwidth they deserve with configurable QoS.
6. Network Topology: Obtain the luxury of viewing your network in real-time, along with your devices and their connections and even monitor network-wide health.
7. Enterprise Security: Your wired network will be fully protected against both external and internal threats.

Once upon a time, on-site network controllers, command line interfaces, and manual firewall configuration were enough to keep a network afloat. But a creaky old IT infrastructure can no longer keep up with the needs of modern organizations. Embracing cloud-managed IT presents significant advantages for admins who want to implement a forward-thinking IT infrastructure built to last.

Enter cloud-managed networking solutions comprising of wireless access points, switches, security appliances, endpoint management, network insight, and security cameras – all managed through a dashboard.

Feel free to reach us to learn more on how enterprises and SMBs alike have discovered the benefits of adopting a cloud-managed stack.

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